Lottie Woad has been a spectator of the Masters for even longer than she has of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, having started in 2019. It seemed weird to find herself on Saturday joining the long list of champions in Butler Cabin. What was even more astounding was how she got there.
With five holes remaining and two strokes behind, the Englishman, 20, mounted a charge worthy of some of Augusta National’s greatest comebacks. With three birdies on her final four holes, Woad finished at 3-under 69 to win by one stroke.
“I was hoping it was going to be like a nice stress-free day, but it was far from that,” Woad stated. “In the end, it’s a cooler way to finish.”
The only golfers to win at Augusta National by a single stroke after birdieing the final two holes are Arnold Palmer in 1960 and Mark O’Meara in 1998. Using a wedge to 10 feet for a birdie on the 17th hole and a 9-iron to 15 feet to set up the winner, Woad accomplished the feat.
After finishing with a bogey-free 66, the best round of the day, which appeared to be a winner until Load made a clutch putt, Bailey Shoemaker could only watch.
“It’s good that she did it, especially considering the strain she was under. That’s incredible,” the freshman at USC Shoemaker remarked. “I’m obviously disappointed, but at the end of the day, I played about as good as I could have.”
Woad had an 8-under 208 finish. She’ll be eligible for every major on the LPGA Tour, with the exception of the Women’s PGA Championship, which she’ll play in two weeks at the Chevron Championship.
In the last round, Woad had a two-shot lead at the beginning but lost it when Shoemaker hit her sixth and last birdie, finishing at 7-under par.
And then things worsened for the sophomore at Florida State. On the par-5 13th hole, Woad made nearly every mistake imaginable: a poor tee shot, an incorrect layup, a horrible wedge shot, and a putt down the slope that she believed might go into the Rae’s Creek tributary. She was two behind after it added a bogey on a birdie hole.
On the fourteenth, she drove into the trees and lost any chance of reaching the green. More crucial to Woad than any of her final birdies was a 10-foot par putt.
“If I made bogey there, I was definitely out of it,” Woad stated.
On the par-5 15th hole, she made a 12-foot birdie putt, and on the following hole, she came dangerously close to making one.
Her final two birdies were set up by flawless drives; on the 17th, she had 104 yards to the back pin and made the 10-foot birdie putt. On the 18th, she hammered a 9-iron from 130 yards to 15 feet behind the green.
After making a flawless finish to the putt, Woad gave a small fist pump.
Masters Chairman Fred Ridley told Woad in Butler Cabin, “You’re now a part of Augusta National history,” and Woad accepted a trophy but no green jacket.
The win, according to Woad, serves as yet another reminder that “I’m never out of it.”
“I persevered even when things were difficult outside. That will boost my confidence greatly,” she remarked. “With this course, mistakes are inevitable. I simply maintained my composure and believed that I would get some back.”
On the par-4 11th hole, Shoemaker played a magnificent approach to the perilous left pin. On the par-3 16th hole, she made her final birdie with a tee shot that just missed the pond’s bunker and nestled three feet away.
Shoemaker has more experience at Augusta National, having participated in the Drive, Chip, and Putt Finals in the Girls 12–13 division in 2018 in addition to playing practice rounds the previous two years.